If you have read or listened to any commentary on email marketing in the past two years, you have most certainly witnessed some version of the now-popular script I call, “In Defence of Email Marketing”. The decrees from on high have repetitively predicted the imminent decline, or worse yet, the eventual death of email marketing in the growing presence of social media, mobile marketing, and other emergent channels. But, despite that commentary, month on month, year on year, our experiences defy those decrees and largely prove that email marketing is not only alive and well – but thriving!
In fact, I would argue that social media in particular has done more good for email marketing than any other technological advancement in the past decade. And the proliferation of smartphones is creating another positive change for our beloved medium. We have labelled this new world “Mocial” marketing (a bit silly but also a bit catchy, right?!?). It represents the intersection of Email with Mobile, Social and Local marketing channels—all working together to increase the impact of the other.
So the key for email marketers lies not in preparing a proper funeral for our channel, but instead, in learning how make our programmes thrive in this new environment.
5 Ways Email Marketing is Thriving in a “Mocial” World:
- Email is More Viral than Ever. With new integrations between email vendors and social media platforms, email marketing is now more viral than ever with offers and content that can easily be shared across any number of social networks. And better yet, in many email systems sharing and downstream viral activity can be measured and attributed back to the original recipient – helping marketers identify what social networks are most impactful and who in their database is their most ardent brand evangelist.
- Mobile is Creating an Always-On Connection. Smarthphones and tablets provide an always-on connection to consumers and prospects. Email is consumed at a faster pace than ever with consumers and business decision makers reading email on the go, connected and not, at all hours of the day, from all corners of the globe. Gyro HSR calls this the At Work State of Mind, and I think we will all agree that email and our work lives are with us for more hours each day than ever before in our lives.
- Triggered Email Creates Deeper Relevance and Real-Time Connections. Triggered emails and real-time alerts can be delivered with local offers triggered from check-ins and other location-based services – tying email marketing seamlessly into the world of location-based and on-premise marketing. The timeliness and the relevance of these triggered communications is higher than that of outbound programmes, and their triggered nature takes the guesswork out of when an email message should be sent and what content would be most valuable – the consumers behaviour is often telling you exactly what to send and when.
- Social and Mobile are Fuelling List Growth. Quicker email list growth can be achieved by using opt-in forms on Facebook company pages and by promoting newsletter options across various social channels. Email has always been a relatively poor (and often invasive) acquisition channel. By leverage social media and fan pages, marketers can now create cross-channel connections that allow social media fans and followers to more deeply connect with the brand through email opt-in.
- The Online and Offline Worlds are Colliding. On-the-go opt-ins are now possible with mobile apps, QR codes and text-to-opt-in campaigns. These new technologies allow consumers to opt-in to programmes and email communications from a variety of locations: from mobile applications on the handset to opt-in campaigns on billboards and bus stops. With Internet-connected mobile devices, consumers are now only a text or scan away from opting-in to email communications and connecting with your brand – turning historically brief advertising impressions into long-lasting online relationships.
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